


I Can Hear Music

by KingOfJacks



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Music, Piano
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 22:09:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20955695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingOfJacks/pseuds/KingOfJacks
Summary: Narcissa awakens one night in Malfoy Manor to the sound of music.





	I Can Hear Music

Narcissa drew her silken robe tight around herself, tying the ribbon in a haphazard knot just above her navel. She gave a hearty sniff, wincing slightly against the dim light the hovered upon the tip of her wand, and swiped an errant hair out of her vision. She didn’t know what time it was. Very late, she assumed, judging by the lack of light outside.

She padded silently down the halls of her home, grateful that she had, had the sense of mind to slip into her slippers before venturing out into the dark. Nowadays, Narcissa struggled to remember a time that there had ever been warmth here in Malfoy Manor, but she knew that there had never been such cold as the cold that occupied its halls today. The Lady Malfoy kept her eyes forward, not daring to let them linger upon closed doors. It was a terrible thing, to be afraid – to be terrified – in your own home.

She had been awoken only a few minutes ago by a most unfamiliar sound. High and low, soft and firm with a melodic tilt to it like she had not heard within the halls of Malfoy Manor in many years. The piano, she had realized after a moment of dumb thought. The piano that sat even now in the sitting room, still tended to and dusted by the elves even if it hadn’t been played in years.

Narcissa knew how to play, of course. A proper Pureblood Lady needed a hobby or two to prove her refinement. She had tried to get Draco to take up the habit, but…

Narcissa padded further into the depths of the Manor, drawing closer to the music. Who was playing it, she wondered. Certainly none of her current…guests possessed the rather benign musical talent of piano playing? No, Narcissa thought then, that wasn’t entirely true. There was, perhaps, two currently infringing on her hospitality that might be able to play such a music.

Dreadfully fearful of just who she would find waiting in the sitting room, Narcissa almost turned around but too late! Her feet had already carried her through the doorway of the room, right into the heart of the music that was echoing softly through her home. Narcissa saw at once that it was not as she had feared.

The signature black locks of Severus Snape hung raggedly over his face, leaning down towards his hands which blurred across the keys with surprising intensity given the soft melody his actions elicited. He was not clothed in his usual, billowy set of robes. If Narcissa judged the black, smudgy shape draped over one of the chairs in the room, she would guess that he had discarded them in favor of the puffy white shirt and tight black vest he wore underneath them. If he noticed the dim light of her _Lumos_, he did not comment on it, and it had not even stuttered his playing.

Narcissa hesitated, unwilling to interrupt the most pleasant thing she had heard in…a long time “Severus?” she called to him in a soft whisper. A question – so many questions – in a single word.

The music stopped instantly, even if Severus’ fingers did not lift from the keys. He was silent for a long time.

Then, “My father,” the Potion Master replied deliberately. There was a long pause before he continued, “He hated music.”

Narcissa gazed across the room for a long moment. Then she flicked her wand once, extinguishing the light. Severus’ music began again at once, and Narcissa turned around, allowing it to guide her back to bed.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by suffer-my-displeasure on tumblr.


End file.
